Erika Figueroa and Irving Perez walk along West Chestnut Street on Monday, May 1, 2017, to install LanCity Connect fiber-to-the-home connections to select homes that have signed up for the new service.

Judge: PPL can remove 'unauthorized' LanCity Connect equipment

Power company instructed to minimize disruption to network's municipal functions

Erika Figueroa and Irving Perez walk along West Chestnut Street on Monday, May 1, 2017, to install LanCity Connect fiber-to-the-home connections to select homes that have signed up for the new service.

Brian Kelly, MAW’s director of operations, said he doesn’t think PPL will undertake an aggressive dismantling.

“It would not be in the best interests of the citizens of Lancaster,” he said, “nor does it seem to be in the spirit of the agreement and the efforts by all parties involved to arrive a reasonable, practical and just solution.”

Suit filed in December

LanCity’s deployment has been on hold since December, when PPL sued MAW in Lehigh County Court.

The suit alleged that MAW made numerous unsafe attachments to PPL’s poles without permission as part of the LanCity buildout.

MAW says most if not all of the work was routine and did not require PPL’s authorization. As for PPL’s allegation that the fiber-optic network poses a safety risk, MAW provided the court with a third-party evaluation it commissioned that concluded it does not.

Issued last month, the order from Judge Edward Reibman provides a fresh set of ground rules for PPL and MAW while the suit is ongoing.

It says PPL may, at MAW’s expense, “remove or remediate any unauthorized attachment” that MAW made to its poles.

It says MAW must send a notice to LanCity customers that their internet service “may be disrupted without further notice” and must follow up with individual customers as appropriate.

The caveat is that PPL must “avoid or minimize” disruption to city services supported by the fiber-optic system, such as traffic light control and the Lancaster Community Safety Coalition’s surveillance cameras. Half of the fiber-optic network’s bandwidth is reserved for municipal uses.

PPL spokesman Nixon said the utility is already exchanging information with the city, and removal will start “in the near future.”

The general notice alerting customers to potential disruption is expected to go out in a week or so, Kelly said. He said MAW expects service disruptions, if there are any, to be minor and localized.